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It’s time for another installment of our Local Wedding Guide! We’re selecting various locations to highlight the numerous resources available from our vendor guide members and their favorite pros they love to work with. We’ve tackled three states so far: North Carolina, Texas, and Massachusetts, and next up on the list is Florida. Most vendors love to travel, so fret not if you’re not in their immediate area!

What is your favorite tip for couples for being photographed on their wedding day?Ben Sasso: Trust your photographer and have fun! If you are able to trust in the photographers talent and can have a good time, I promise you that your images will come out that much better!

Ben Sasso: I pride myself on being able to foster genuine relationships with the people I work with. Not only does this make the process more relaxing but it leads to those fun and intimate images that we all love.

Any favorite photo spots for engagement sessions or must see sightings?Ben Sasso: St. Augustine has beautiful marshes. Those have always been my favorite. For me, nothing beats a natural set.

From Marlon Richardson: Photography can help us remember things that we would have otherwise, long forgotten. I try to capture the moments that when sequenced together show your very own, unique love story.

Any favorite photo spots for engagement sessions or must see sightings?Marlon Richardson: You can’t go wrong with Vizcaya or Amelia Earhart Park!

From Concept Photography: We are a husband and wife shooting team that travels the world in search of amazing weddings and awesome clientele. We designed our company around the simple idea that there should be a higher standard for creativity and performance in the wedding photography industry. Although we take photographing weddings very seriously, we make sure to have FUN. Life is too short to not enjoy what you do, and we have a blast!

Any favorite photo spots for engagement sessions or must see sightings?
Concept Photography: The Orlando area is great for engagement shoots because there is something for every taste. We love the architecture at Rollins College, the urban feel of the Church Street area, the canopied streets in Winter Park, and the lushness of Wekiwa Springs. We also do a lot of engagement shoots in the Disney parks.

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Perhaps it’s the winter blues, but I’been drawn to all things coastal lately. Love this set with deep navy blue, organic textures and crisp whites with a touch of gold. Be sure to follow us on Pinterest for more inspiration. See you there!

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It’s that time again — time for another installment of our Local Wedding Guide! We’re selecting various locations to highlight the numerous resources available from our vendor guide members and their tried-and-true recommendations. First we tackled North Carolina, and next up on the list is Texas. Love their work but not in Texas? They all love to travel :)

Any favorite photo spots for engagement sessions or must see sightings?Katherine O’Brien: Barton Springs!
Margaret of Three Apples Events in Austin: Any of the murals around town are always great! Or anywhere around Town Lake where you can soak in the fabulous views of downtown.Shannon Cunningham in Austin: South Congress, East Austin, any of our glorious open, rolling fields, a fun bar/restaurant in town, any place in Austin that is special to the couple!Heather Curiel: Any place outside with trees and water. Hamilton Pool, Barton Springs, check out any of the springs hike trails too.

Katherine O’Brien: Camp Verde
Margaret of Three Apples Events: Austin has the gamut of types of places to stay! We’ve got all of the big hotels downtown like the Hilton, Sheraton, Radisson etc which are all within walking distance of fantastic restaurants and our famous 6th street. But if you want a more unique experience while in town, there are tons of cool unique options as well like the historic Driskill Hotel or boutique hotels like the San Jose, Kimber Modern, or St. Cecilia.Heather Curiel: Somewhere out of the ordinary! Try a hotel along South Congress or even the new Heywood Hotel on the east side. Lots of venues also have on site overnight properties. An excellent choice for guests who want to enjoy the hill country views.Shannon Cunningham: Four Seasons, Hotel St. Cecelia, Hotel San Jose, Kimber Modern, SFA Intercontinental, The Driskill

Margaret of Three Apples Events in Austin adds: Austin has everything for everyone! From Hill Country venues with incredible views to grand ballrooms, historic mansions to wineries, your wedding can really be whatever you want it to be! And that goes for every vendor, not just the venues – your flowers, your cakes and other sweet treats, your paper goods – Austin vendors are able to pull off any style of event with amazing aplomb. We do vintage, we do rustic, we do classic, we do glamorous. And don’t forget that Austin is also the live music capital of the world! So music can be a huge part of any event and we’ve got every kind of band or DJ you could hope for! Weddings in Austin are truly unique and really are in a category of their own!

What is your favorite tip for couples for being photographed on their wedding day?Matthew Moore: Katie and I feel that brides photograph much better when they forget about the camera and the photographer altogether. In fact we encourage them to forget about us and think about what’s actually happening, which is… drum roll please… GETTING MARRIED! We believe there are two types of brides: the self-conscious bride and the marriage-conscious bride and, inevitably, brides will fall into one of these two categories. The self-conscious bride becomes preoccupied with “looking good” for the camera, worrying whether or not they are “doing it right,” or pleasing the photographer. However, the marriage-conscious bride is simply relishing the moment and looking forward to what’s ahead with great hope and great anticipation. In our opinion, the latter makes for much more honest, natural, and sincere portraits. If ever there were a day when you knew that you look good, a day that felt like you could do no wrong, a day where a photographer wouldn’t really have to tell you to “smile” because you couldn’t stop smiling… that day would certainly be your wedding day! Remember that the photography exists for the wedding not the wedding for the photographer. So think about the wedding… Think about your spouse (or soon to be spouse) and all that you’ve gone through, fought for, overcome, and triumphed over to get to this point. Do that, and we guarantee you that you’ll come away from this with three-dimensional portraits that contain richness, depth, and soul.

Any favorite photo spots for engagement sessions or must see sightings?
Lisa of Period Charm Rentals: White Rock Lake & the Bath House, Las Colinas Canals, the Cotton Mill in McKinney for engagements. Must see- Fair Park has some great architecture.Stephanie Hunter: Anything with a natural or organic feel really does it for me…think open, rolling fields, wheat grass and massive trees and rivers. I always love vintage homes too – especially if they have picket fences!

What are the best places for out-of-town guests to stay?
Lisa of Period Charm Rentals: For those visiting downtown Dallas we have the W, the new Omni, Hotel Zaza, Hotel Crescent Court and the Hilton Anatole. If you are looking for something closer to the airport and midway between Dallas and Ft. Worth the Gaylord Hotel is a great bet in Grapevine. That hotel encompasses all parts of Texas and is also a great venue for events.Stephanie Hunter: Hands down my favorite places are B&B’s & little inns. It’s a chance to really feel the Texas charm! There are a TON, but the one I’m submitting is “The Inn on Lake Grandbury” – great place for a wedding AND guests to stay (why not kill two birds with one stone)?!

If you are a vendor and would like to be considered in our vendor guide, please click HERE to apply. If you would like to recommend additional local resources to this list, please email us. We’d love to hear from you!

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Words cannot begin to express how excited we are for one of our newest features, the Local Wedding Guides! Bit by bit, we’re selecting various locations to highlight the numerous resources available from our vendor guide members and their tried-and-true recommendations. First up on the list is North Carolina:

What are some of your favorite wedding venues:
From Photos by Jenna: There are incredible lake front homes for rent that make beautiful backyard weddings!

Elizabeth of Almond Leaf Studios says: There are gorgeous, whimsical, quirky places all around downtown Asheville and the surrounding area. My favorite is to start in Asheville itself, then plan some time to head towards the outskirts for more of a rural feel with the mountains in the background.

From our Blue Label members, their recommendations for places for out-of-town guests to stay:
Raleigh: Downtown Raleigh Sheraton
Bannker Elk: Mast Farm Inn
Charlotte: The Morehead Inn, Charlotte Marriott City Center, Ritz Carlton Uptown
Asheville: Grand Bohemian in Biltmore Village, Inn on Biltmore Estate, Tiffany Hill Bed and Breakfast
Says Elizabeth of Almond Leaf Studios: There are many convenient hotels nearby Asheville with great accommodations. The Biltmore Hotel is gorgeous and wonderful, and there are also many others in that area (including a decent hostel!)

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I think we’re all definitely getting into the holiday spirit, and what better way is there to celebrate than with free downloads? Amy of Thank You Card Shop was so kind to send over some of her fab Thank You card designs as free printables just for Ruffled readers! Check the bottom of the post for links to downloadable PDF files.

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Another week of incredible weddings deserves another spotlight of amazing Blue Label wedding vendors! We thought we’d pull a little bit of inspiration from the steampunk genre to show you how you can incorporate this trend from your invitations right down to your wedding venue:

That bride’s headpiece is simply perfect!

In case you missed any of this week’s awesome features, here they are…

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I hope everyone enjoyed her short work week — doesn’t the time just fly by? We had an amazing week here at Ruffled with gorgeous weddings aplenty, and we’re not totally done yet! We couldn’t leave for the weekend without sharing this oh-so-beautiful Old Hollywood reception from the summer issue of Martha Stewart Weddings. Check out that hand-painted stage backdrop…

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Happy Memorial Day weekend! Hopefully the weather will perk up for all of our cookouts and family gatherings this weekend. In the meantime, we’d love to highlight some of our Blue Label photographers whose fantastic weddings we’ve featured this week. Fresh in Love Photography, Michael Ash Imagery, and Geneoh have all stolen our hearts, and we’re sure they’ll steal yours too!

Trust me, you’ll want to make sure you didn’t miss any features from this week. From Monday to Friday, we were tickled to have such gorgeous weddings and inspiration shoots!

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To be honest, it’s been a little sad coming down from the glorious high of the royal wedding. Luckily, the wedding world is still swinging in full force! First off, we want to make sure you’ve had a chance to eye these fantastic local Blue Label wedding vendors:

As promised, below are editable versions of the darling templates designed by Two Brunettes. We also included a new color, aqua, per popular request. Each set includes a menu, escort cards, thank you cards and table number templates. Enjoy!

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There are so many things we love about our sponsor LeahandMark.com — they love to travel, they donate 10% of their proceeds to charity and have a money back guarantee. Not only are they offering a special deal to all Ruffled readers, they’re also running a prize contest — keep reading for more details!

We’re Leah and Mark – a husband and wife photography team based out of Atlanta, GA. We started our photography business a little under two years ago – and we’ve been going full speed ever since then. When we say we travel – we really mean it – since 95% of our weddings are out of state. We’ve shot weddings in Massachusetts, Tennessee, Illinois, and Alabama – and this year we’re traveling to California (twice!), Michigan, Maine, Florida, and North & South Carolina.

LeahandMark.com is currently running a prize contest! Beginning on April 19th, register on their website to win fabulous prizes including having all of your bridesmaids outfitted, jewelry, and a premium wedding website and invitation package. The contest ends on April 26th, so register now!

Just mention you found Leah and Mark through Ruffled for a 15% discount on their services and no travel fees! Leah and Mark donate 10% of all proceeds to micro-lending through Kiva.org, and have a 100% money-back guarantee policy, no questions asked.

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Hello again Friday; we sure have missed you! For those of you who haven’t yet had the opportunity to enter our Velvet Raptor album giveaway, be sure to do so now! We’d like to send you off into another gorgeous weekend with some appreciation for some of our Canadian Blue Label photographers:

Our DIY Wedding Favor Contest has, at last, come to an end. Thank you so much to all of those who submitted their wonderful talents; we sincerely wish we could have featured every single project. We invited a new panel of judges this year to vote on their favorite project based on the following criteria: creativity, budget, originality and level of difficulty. Some of the judges are Amy Atlas Events, Sweets Indeed and Pizzazzerie. We will announce the winners next week.

In case you missed any, here’s a complete list of wedding favor ideas:

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There are plenty of reasons to smile today: it’s Friday, it’s a balmy sixty five degrees here in New York, and we’re so excited to see what amazing DIY ideas you come up with for our DIY Wedding Favor Contest! Weekends are a good time to get the creative juices a-flowing so gather up some friends and some craft supplies and made an event out of it. Everyone around the globe is welcome to enter. Good ideas: necessary, glass of wine: optional.

Here’s a little vendor love to some talented photographers new to Blue Label: one is Midwest bundle full of talent and the other is an East Coast gem …

Ash Imagery is headed by Michael Ash, a Philadelphia artist whose images all have a beautiful, light quality and artistic edge. We’re beyond excited to have him as part of the Blue Label! To see more than the sneak peek of the the above wedding shot by Ash Imagery, check out this post and then peruse the whole website.

Gene is the talented photographer behind Geneoh Photography and we’re just blown away by his creativity. Geneoh Photography is based in Minneapolis but is also loves to travel. For the wedding above (and more of Gene’s work) check out their website.

Hello Love Photography is offering 10% off a wedding package to Ruffled readers!Eileen Garcia is offering 20% off to Ruffled readers getting married in the spring!Rojo Photo is offering 10% your booking with him when you mentioned Ruffled Blog!

Also, be sure to mark your calendars for New York Magazine’s Weddings Event, being held on March 30th at the Metropolitan Pavilion. They’re hosting an online ticket sale at reduced prices, which you can find on their website.

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Oh, Friday, I just love you so much with your promise of good times and friends and brunches! It’s been another week full of pretty Ruffled goodness over here and we’ve got even more on our plates for next week. We hope you’re enjoying the new galleries feature and are finding all the gorgeousness you could ever hope for! Blue Label is getting bigger and bigger and we’re just so impressed by the talent over there. You know, like these guys…

Click on their picture to view their Blue Label portfolio

And here’s a seriously sweet wedding video shot by new Blue Label member, Monachetti Video to send you off into the weekend. I teared up at least five times watching this cute couple! Enjoy and have a beautiful weekend!

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Happy Friday, friends of the wedding world! It’s chilly here in NYC but hopefully you find some warmth, love and coziness in your weekend. Here are some of our favorite links, deals and vendors from this week plus free wedding downloads designed by Carolynn of Two Brunettes :

The set contains frames for wedding invitations, table numbers, place cards (or escort tags) and favor tags, all in three different colors. That’s 24 templates! Just a little somethin’ from Two Brunettes:

Amazing Engagement Session Giveaway from one of our favorite sponsors, Kristin of Photomuse Photography! The girl is wicked talented and all you have to do to enter to win is send a picture of your fun and funky selves with your beau to Kristin. The session, including all the digital files, is worth $750 so pose for some pics with your fiance and enter for this to-die-for prize! Here’s all the info:

What: Free Engagement Shoot for a Retro Inspired Couple in the NYC area from Photomuse!

When: Sunday, December 26 at 1:00pm from 2nd Avenue Subway Station

We are offering a free engagement session to a retro-inspired couple in the NYC area on Sunday, December 26th. The shoot will be on the last day the MTA historic subway car will be running. The winning couple will be chosen for their vintage appeal and fashion sense.

Please send an email to Kristin@photomuse.com with a photograph of both of you by Thursday, December 23. The winning couple will be notified Friday, December 24.

A Little Vendor Shoutout to some of our rad Blue Label members that were part of this week’s featured weddings! Check out all the Blue Label vendors and learn how you can join here.

Sweet Emilia Jane is a sweet, fun, funky, creative little lady on the West Coast who designs some of the loveliest weddings, check her out! She designed THIS adorable wedding.

A Simple Photo, a stunner of a photographer, continually brings us romantic, dramatic and all around spot-on photography in engagements sessions and weddings alike! She shot THIS gorgeous engagement session.

Catherine Cindy Leo Events covers events both large and small- and by cover, I mean covers them in GORGEOUS! Their unique ideas and classy presentation are always crowd pleasers. They coordinated THIS stunning wedding.

My Personal Pic(ture) of the Week is this sweet shot of Karli getting carted off by her new husband, Caleb.
Isn’t it the sweetest?! You can see the rest of the wedding just by Ben Blood in their feature right here.

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Today, we are so lucky to introduce you to one of our fabulous sponsors: Growing Tree Photography. Sara, the driving force behind Growing Tree, is very talented at making images that are fresh, fun and hip, with a twist of nostalgia. Her favorite kind of weddings are the ones with that extra personal, sentimental touch – especially handmade weddings and those with a touch of whimsy, and her joy about her work truly shows in these beautiful images.

Growing Tree Photography is based out of Connecticut, but Sara is willing to travel! Visit her blog for more of her latest and greatest work!

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I just want to give a huge shoutout to my lovely sponsors who make Ruffled possible! Each advertiser is hand picked based on readers’ taste, style and needs, so you can imagine how proud I am to have them on board. All of them travel, but I thought it would be helpful to local brides to see where they are based out of. We’re going to start by introducing our photographers (in no particular order) and they’re going to tell us a little bit about themselves:

One Thousand Words Photography is us – Angie and Ashley. We met on the first day of art school and bonded over a deep love of photography and pretty dresses. Neither of us planned to become wedding photographers and can hardly believe our good fortune! We’re passionate about art and about relationships – so we’re pretty much in the perfect line of work. My pulse still races at the outpouring of love and hope and magic that happen at a wedding. Ashley can manage tack sharp focus with tears streaming down her face during the vows (I’ve seen it). We adore all things vintage and gorgeous . . . and ruffled. :)

I know how important photographs can be to a person, a family or a couple. I spent most of the big events in my own life behind a lens, and have organized my mothers’ photos more times than I can remember! In my work, I strive to capture the personalities and natural timing of my subjects. I care a lot about what I do, and I hope that it reflects in my photographs.

I started my photography business in January of 2007. I would describe my photographic style, documenting spontaneous moments with an editorial flair. I have recently been injecting eco-friendly practices in running my business and in my personal life as well. I am learning everyday as far as what I can do to be less wasteful and teach my family the same thing. I lived in Chicago until I was 18, then Phoenix for 8 years, and now Charlotte since May of 2008. I still miss Chicago and I think it is the best city in the whole wide world. I’d still like to move back. If only I can convince my husband. I feel incredibly lucky that I get to document the love between two people on the most important day of their lives. Many a times, I have caught myself crying behind my viewfinder when snapping shots or in front of my computer screen when editing a perfectly caught moment. And every time, I remember why I love my job so much and that it is my calling.

It is especially important to be true to oneself in a world where images, ideas, and technology change so rapidly. By being able to articulate my goals as an artist and by continuing to challenge myself with new techniques and knowledge, I ensure that my photographic work harmonizes with who I am as a person. I have a Fine Arts background and a degree in Photography from Pratt Institute, and I strive to incorporate a rich history of the arts into my photographic work. I work each wedding with a fresh outlook and treats each couple individually, always striving to photograph each wedding in a new and exciting way. My wedding day approach is thoughtful and caring, staying sensitive to the day’s flow and never intruding.

Sarah e. Evans Photography provides Modern Vintage Photography with a Southern Twist. With her business based in East Texas, she covers much of the Southeast Texas area and is available for travel. Living in the Oldest town in Texas helps to inspire and define her style of photography and allows her to keep things funky, fresh, and unique.

We will continue to introduce our sponsors later today, next up will be Stationery and Wedding Day Necessities group!